Outlet suggests the Lions send the Bengals a key starter and more for Trey Hendrickson, why trading for Hendrickson is the worst thing Detroit could do
Please, this stuff has to stop
It seems we will just never get away from this. Since the Bengals agreed to allow edge rusher Trey Hendrickson to seek a trade in March, he has constantly been attached to the Detroit Lions in trade rumors and hypotheticals. On Monday, we saw perhaps the worst proposal ever.
DraftKings suggests that the Lions send a 2026 second-round pick and starting Green Dot linebacker Jack Campbell to the Bengals for Hendrickson.
This is a horrible deal for the Lions in about every conceivable way. Detroit took Campbell in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and it has put a ton of work into him. Now, they’re making him the green dot. He is the future of this team’s defense. There is no way around it. He’s also not just an OK player that the Lions would be fine without. He is expected to be one of the best linebackers in the NFL this year and in the future. He’s already shown to be a good player.
Hendrickson seems like a fun addition to the team, but this isn’t Madden with the salary cap turned off. The Lions should not make this move or any move involving Hendrickson. He wants to be one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL. The Lions are likely days away from making Aidan Hutchinson the highest-paid edge rusher in the league. I just can’t understand why some Lions fans can’t grasp that this is a planet-killing move for the team.
Even without trading Campbell or a second-round pick. There is no world where this move pays off for the Lions and their goal of building sustained success. It’s a move where the Lions give up draft assets, despite predominantly wanting to build through the draft, and then pay a ton of money to a 30-year-old player, which drastically affects their possibilities of extending Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch, and Campbell. This goes directly against their strategy to retain the players they’ve drafted.
I know you want a Super Bowl win. I get it, but this is not the cost a team on the doorstep already and wants to open the door, walk in, get what they want, and then return to the doorstep again should pay. You don’t want to be the team that convinces itself that it’s always one piece away and then chases that piece forever and loses everything that you have that’s good.
The Lions have a strong defensive line, and they were already one of the best defenses in the NFL. I know some of you will never believe that, based on the injury-riddled defense you last saw, but they were second in Defensive DVOA midway through the year before the injuries started. This defense we’ve been seeing working this summer looks better than the defense last year. They do not need Hendrickson. They definitely don’t need all the problems they would get with him, either.
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